College Football is the greatest spectator sport in America. Tailgating is an art form, sampling the local fare, traditions and partaking in a beverage or two is a must. Atmosphere is everything! If you don't attend a game, you can still tailgate right in the confines of your own man-cave. Enjoy the site!
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Monday, September 26, 2016

History
states that the first college football game ever played took place on November
6, 1869 in New Brunswick, NJ on the Campus of Rutgers University. There were no
reports of tailgating, corn hole and fireball from the event. Rutgers defeated
their opponent Princeton University on that day 6-4. It is purported that the
game was played with 25 men per side and probably looked more like modern rugby
than football as we now know it. Nonetheless, this was the genesis of the
greatest spectator sport in North America and is known as the birthplace of
college football. Saturday would be the first time the DFT crew made the pilgrimage
to this sacred hallowed campus for a cfb game. The last time I was here was in 1985 for a rugby tournament. Legend has it that our host that allowed our entire team to bivouac at his crib was evicted shortly after our stay. The opponent on this early autumn
day would be the Hawkeyes from Iowa who we last saw in January at the Rose
Bowl.

Rutgers
University is situated in and around New Brunswick, NJ consisting of five
campuses. Currently, the undergrad student body is approximately 48,000 with an
additional 19,000 grad students. Originally known as Queens College, it was
founded in 1766 and is the eighth oldest university in the country. The spot
where the original field was is now occupied by a gymnasium. The current
Rutgers stadium called High Point Solutions Stadium was constructed in 1994 on
the same spot as the previous stadium that had stood for sixty years. Current
capacity is 52,000 with a complete lower bowl and upper decks on the East and
West sides. Six years ago during a game against Army, tragedy hit Rutgers
stadium when lineman Eric Legrand was paralyzed on a kickoff. He is honored
with his number affixed to the press box that looks like a red military guard
house. Rutgers is now in its third season in the Big Ten and is coached by Chris
Ash in his first year after being an important assistant coach at Ohio State
under Urban Meyer.

The Frank Scarpa tailgate

I would be
joined this weekend by family members, college and childhood friends and their
families. I scored 100 on the deadbeat dad scale as I found out I would be
missing the opportunity to walk my 8th grade daughter onto the field
for her cheer leading homecoming game. With a noon Eastern kickoff, it meant the
pre gaming festivities would start extremely early for me as I had just flown
in Friday night from the west coast. My
circadian clock can’t tell time so no biggy as my first Bloody Mary was poured
at 9 AM. At tailgate # 1 we had an assortment of brunch chow: egg sandwiches,
stuffed breakfast pretzels, sausage and peppers, old bay chicken wings, meal in
a cup Bloody Mary’s and other treats. It was a great group for me representing
many eras of my life with much laughter as stories were retold. At 11 AM we
departed for Frank Hundley’s “Friends of Frank” Tailgate in the yellow lot that
was just awarded best Tailgate at Rutgers University. In route we were treated
to the Rutgers Marching Band parading down the main campus road to the stadium.
Frank’s theme for the day was Oktoberfest with German food, music and attire. I
must say, the bar was one of the most stocked I have ever seen at any tailgate.
After visiting with Frank and his crew while sampling some liquid and non-
liquid goodies we made our way into the facility shortly after kickoff.

BT's breakfast in a cup concoction

Captain Lou leading us to battle

Hair club for men photo shoot

New Jersey's first couple

Frank's first place Tailgate....

..and his first place bar

The sign sez it all about my Jersey friends

The first
half was a defensive struggle with Iowa scoring once on a pass play and holding
a 7-0 lead going into halftime. Both defenses were bringing the wood and
playing sound fundamental football. We were visited in our seats by another
college buddy and Piscataway townie Larry Sporer who filled in the blanks on
some important Rutgers facts like where the best tailgate lot is. The opening drive
of the second half saw an 80 yard Iowa run for a score called back because of a
holding call. Rutgers would tie the game up in the fourth quarter only to
relinquish the lead for good as the Hawkeyes put up 7 more points. The student
section was raucous and engaged the whole game and the band belted out song
after song providing for a great college game day environment. Final score Iowa 14, Rutgers 7. After the
Rutgers Alma Mater was played, the Jersey icon Bruce Springsteen’s Badlands
blared over the loud speakers as we departed the venue. Back at the original
tailgate spot we fired up the grill again and handed out cold Natty Bo’s and
enjoyed the remainder of a beautiful afternoon.

Donnelly's From the Tailgate

Tribute to Eric Legrand

Frostburg State's finest trio of something!

Around the country –on Friday night after arriving at
Captain Lou’s house in Jersey we witnessed the once mighty Men of Troy go down
to the Utes beneath the Wasatch Mountain range. The drama continues at SC as
they start the season 1-3. Maybe Nick Saban will hire Clay Helton? Okay enough
rubbing it in as my Irish also fall to 1-3 after losing to Duke for the first
time in over 50 years. The only good news is they had the sense to fire DC
Brian Vangorder and his witness protection plan goatee. Boise State beats
their second PAC 12 foe of the season chewing up the Beavers in Corvallis to go
3-0. The Michigan Wolverine’s trounced the Paterno State University Nittany
Lions 49 -10. The LSU Tigers lost a thriller in Jordan Hare and Les Miles lost
his job as a result. No more tiger grass for you mad hatter but you will be
missed. Ole Miss tames the Bulldawgs in Athens with a severe beating. Stanford stays
perfect behind Christian McCaffrey’s heroics by downing UCLA and loud mouth
Rosen. The Badgers dominated Sparty setting up next week’s matchup with undefeated
Michigan in the Big House. The Tennessee Vols come from 18 down to beat their
nemesis the Florida Gators by 10 in Rocky Top. Trevor Knight looked like the T
Knight of 2014 Sugar Bowl fame by directing the Aggies to victory over the Hogs
in Jerry World.

The Badlands

Bieber – It pains me to do this to such a
good buddy but this week’s Bieber goes to my college roommate Chip Hayden. You
see, ole Chipper was in NYC this weekend, a mere 30 minutes from Rutgers and
his college buddies. After making promises/threats that he would join us for
the tailgate/the game/ the post game tailgate/and beyond he failed to appear. There
were many calls and texts from us to join our celebration, but he still did not
post up. It was rumored that he was spotted taking his betrothed into the
matinee of Catz in Manhattan. I hope he got good seats and truly enjoyed the show.
Well Chipper, you didn’t get to the Rutgers game but you can remember the
weekend with your new Bieber hardware that will be mailed to you this week.

Chip circa 1985

Next week we
will be attending the Monte Vista High School game Friday night and the T-Birds
Pop Warner game on Saturday. I am
petitioning the league to at least allow tailgating for the parents of the
eighth grade teams. The following weekend we will be in Arkansas for the big
matchup with Alabama. There will not be a write up next week.

Monday, September 19, 2016

It is
tradition that I visit my kids in college at least once per season… err once
per fall semester. This past weekend I made my way back to the plains of Oklahoma for
the third year in a row to watch what had been billed as the game of the year.
“THE” Ohio State Buckeyes and Urban Meyer were bringing the scarlet and gray
Buckeyes to play the crimson and cream Sooners in Norman, OK. Ohio State was
coming in as the 4th ranked team in the land and Oklahoma was
sitting at 14. These two teams are arguably considered two of the five “Blue
Bloods” of College Football along with Alabama, Notre Dame and USC. The two schools have combined for 15 National
Championships, 82 Conference Championships, two of the highest winning percentages
and 12 Heisman Trophies between them.

The passion
and pageantry for the weekend would be one of the highest witnessed in Norman
ever. Throngs of Buckeye fans started setting up shop in their RV’s as early as
Tuesday in anticipation of this rare event. Aside from winning, both schools
are known for spectacular Marching Bands, great game day traditions and two of
the most loyal fan bases in the nation.

Friday
kicked off with my annual pilgrimage to the home of the gold standard for pork
Ribs; none other than Van’s Pig Stand in Norman. Friday night had me
taking a tour of some of the many hot spots in Norman: Chimmys, The Mont (home
of the famous Swirl), Jax, The Library, Logies and O’Connell’s. This was by no
means my own doing as my daughter and her roommates insisted I see the sights
of the town. Only later was I smart enough to figure out why, as my wallet
(more on that later) was significantly lighter than it had been. It was a good
thing that Saturday’s match up would be a night game.

Boomer Schooner?

Saturday began with a
batch of DFT traditional Bloody Mary’s. Then it was off to the Mullica Tailgate
hosted by Lauren and Mike Mullica and attended by Mrs. Tailgate’s family and
friends. Great BBQ from Billy Sims was the main course, pared with ice cold
Schlitz and chased by a wee bit of Fireball. At approximately 4:30 PM, the
heavens opened up and brought us a traditional Oklahoma thunder boomer with
Noah style flooding turning our tailgate into the floodgate. Being under a tent
and with the Dish Tailgater Satellite working it only made the scene more cozy
and festive. A message was sent out that the game would be delayed 90 minutes
due to the lightning. Oh darn, so I guess I just had to enjoy the tailgate a bit
longer.

Bad Influences!

The hostess with the mostess

Cousins

Gulliver and his minions

I'd keep playing if I were you...

I don't think the heavy stuff is coming down for a while yet!

This sez it all.

It turns out
the ticket I had was a student ticket so I was prepared to do my best Rodney
Dangerfield Back to School impression if I was questioned. Apparently my vigor
and immaturity superseded my grey beard as there were no questions asked. So
now off to the rowdy and wet student section to stand for the whole game and
make noise. I was honored that my daughter and her friends wanted me to stand
with them and partake in the festivities. However, no weekend is complete
without me losing something and this time it happened to be my wallet. After
searching and talking to “Authorities”, it was nowhere to be found. However my
credit is now good in Pakistan and Singapore. It is a good thing I lightened
the cash value of that money vessel the night before. No biggie, this wasn’t my
first rodeo where this matter is concerned.

Back to school

Old School

The Sooners
had decided to stripe their beautiful Gaylord Memorial stadium with every other
section wearing either white or red. I wore gray to match my goatee. As an
added bonus, OU had just completed the addition of the new South end zone that
is now bowled in and topped off with a state of the art giant jumbotron.It exceeded my expectations as I have been
coming to the this stadium for 30 years and am always intrigued with the upgrades
that have taken place,

As the
Buckeyes took the field, the outnumbered but loud and boisterous Buckeye
faithful made a big racket only to be drowned out when the Sooners took the
field. The Sooners led by one of the most potent backfields in the nation
behind QB Baker Mayfield and running backs Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon would
win the coin toss and take possession of the ball first. After an impressive
drive stalled inside the 20, the OU kicker pulled a “Brotzman” and nailed the
uprights.The Buckeyes would take over
and score and score and score again. The only bright spot for the Sooners in
the first half was Mixon’s electrifying kick return for a touchdown. In reality,
the score should not have counted as Mixon “Deseaned” it and dropped the pigskin
before crossing the goal line for pay dirt. Urban Meyer’s Offense led by
talented QB JT Barret were no match for “Screaming” Mike Stoops’s Defense. On
the ground, up the middle, around the ends or through the air, the Sooners had
no answer for the Buckeye machine. Coupled with two interceptions thrown by
Mayfield and two drives that ended in only 3 points, the game was never close.
This old student said his goodbyes with ten minutes left and headed to Uber
world for the ride to the in laws to get in a four hour sleep before heading
back home. Ohio State will most likely be playing in the final four and OU will
now be playing for the Big 12 Title.

Me and Lil Tailgate

Around the Nation:

Not a good
day for the DFT family as Notre Dame was soundly beaten in South Bend by
Michigan State. My MSU Nephew is now out of my will. In fact, he will pay for
my funeral. The two bright spots were Mrs. Tailgate’s Cowpokes beating Pitt in
Stillwater and Texas losing to Cal.Alabama got the Rebel Monkey off their back by defeating Ole Miss in
Oxford for the first time in three years. Stanford and Christian McCaffery sent
USC home with another loss.Perhaps the
biggest surprise of the weekend was Louisville’s trouncing of Florida State 63
-20. Army goes to 3-0 for the first time in modern history with the demolition
of UTEP in El Paso and Navy keeps pace with a victory over Tulane. FCS
powerhouse North Dakota State knocked off another ranked FBS opponent squeaking
by Iowa 23-21.

RTR! Doctor Rector and daughter at the Grove

Flash Gordon and clan at PSU

Chris and Megan Razorback

Bieber Award – Many Candidates to choose from
this week: Penn State for honoring Joe Pa perhaps a little too soon, any
posterior crevasses in the country not standing for the National Anthem or the “walking
deads” on ESPN supporting their actions, my cousin for allegedly being passed
out on the couch at 1 PM on Saturday after watching his Bison win. But one
school continues to be the gift that keeps on giving and that is my favorite
institution known as the University of Spoiled Children aka USC. Yeah, I know
half my readers are SC fans but you give as good as you get. This time it was
the arrest of serial rapist Sophomore Osa Masina for allegedly raping the same
woman after she was passed out in two different states, two different times. As
a side note, former AD Mike Garret was also charged with sexual misconduct two
weeks prior. What is in the water down there in Glitz City? Well there may be
vacated Heisman and National Championship hardware in the trophy case but they
have been replaced by numerous Bieber statues. These are much more permanent
than ones that have been removed. It’s like a good foot fungus that won’t leave
you.

Next week
the DFT crew makes its way to the birthplace of College Football as Rutgers
hosts Iowa. We will be joining the Tailgates of competitive chef Frank Scarpa
and Rutgers most famous tailgater Frank Hundley. Happy Tailgating!

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Dan From The Tailgate

DFT

I live for college football weekends. I love tailgating before and after games and absorbing the atmosphere and traditions of the host school. I am on a quest to see a game in every "real" stadium for D1A football in the country and attend as many games and Tailgates as I can. It is more fun to accomplish this with friends and family, thus the DFT Nation has grown far and wide over the last 15 years. I have also added lower Division schools as part of my annual mix. Each Season, I will travel the country and attend numerous games in college stadiums that I have not previously been to and take in the whole experience and blog about it.

I also like to hear about your game day experiences each week. But it is not just about attending different stadiums, our Tailgate has many repeat locations each year for traditional games that are just plain fun like Army- Navy. Last but not least, I am a college football polygamist. Born a Notre Dame fan, Big OU Sooners and Boise State fan. And of course I root on Army and my Alma Mater Frostburg State. Nonetheless, I love all college football and there is no such thing as a bad game.

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The most delicious Slow Cooker Beer Mac & Cheese that is totally homemade, uses your favorite beer and takes your mac and cheese to a whole…

Ingredients

Meat

1 lb Beef stew meat

Produce

1 14.5 oz can Tomatoes, fire-roasted

Canned Goods

1 cup Beef broth

Pasta & Grains

8 oz Pasta noodles

Baking & Spices

2 tbsp Flour

1 tbsp Worcheshire pub burger seasoning

Dairy

3 tbsp Butter

2 cups Cheese

2 cups Milk

Beer, Wine & Liquor

1 1/2 cup Stout beer

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Yahoo College Football Pick EM

Folks, follow the instructions below and cut and paste the link at the bottom. This is a fun weekly activity to measure your picks against others. No money, just for fun and a free DFT T shirt for the winner and DFT hat for 2nd and a pen for third at the end of the season! Let me know if you have any trouble signing up.

Hello Tailgater,

Welcome to Yahoo Sports College Football Pick'em.

You have created the Private Group called The Tailgaters and the Pick Set called Dan's Winners in that group. To allow other people to join this group send them the Group ID# (5374) and the Password (dan). Remember, it is the Group ID#, not the group name, that other people must use to join your group.

You are now ready to participate in College Football Pick'em. Your goal is to select the winner of each week's slate of games.